Many people feel a sense of duty to repay their parents for the support they received growing up, with many public figures sharing their success by helping family. For example, actress Margot Robbie used her earnings from The Wolf of Wall Street to pay off her mother’s mortgage. But not every celebrity feels this way—director Quentin Tarantino, for instance, has taken a different approach.
Tarantino, the acclaimed filmmaker behind Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Django Unchained, and Kill Bill, has amassed a significant fortune. Despite his estimated $120 million net worth, he revealed in 2021 that he’s never shared his wealth with his mother, a decision rooted in their complicated history.
In an interview on The Moment podcast with Billions co-creator Brian Koppelman, Tarantino explained that his mother didn’t always support his ambitions. When he was young, she would reprimand him for writing screenplays at school, dismissing his dreams with sarcasm about his “little writing career.” Hurt by her criticism, Tarantino vowed that if he ever succeeded, she would not benefit financially from his success. “No house, no vacation, no Elvis Cadillac for mommy—you get nothing,” he recalled promising himself.
He mentioned he did help her financially on one occasion but otherwise has kept his vow. Tarantino defended his decision, stressing the importance of a parent’s support for their child’s passions, and the lasting consequences when that support is withheld.
In response, his mother, Connie Zastoupil, told USA Today that she’s proud of Tarantino and his family, saying, “It gave me great joy to dance at his wedding and celebrate my grandchild, Leo.” She added that while statements like her son’s can go viral without full context, she prefers not to fuel a “salacious transactional media frenzy.”